The door to the 2025 season has only been shut for a few days now, but many around the sport are already turning their attention to the 2026 season next fall. With the news wire buzzing about signing class and transfer portal acquisitions, many around the media are rattling off their takes on who is making the biggest impressions and who is falling short in the early steps of roster building for the next season.
On3’s J.D. PicKell recently went through the top teams in the country to establish his Way-Too-Early Top 25 list. He’s not the only one who has been doing that lately, with some having Tennessee in the mix and some having the Vols on the outside looking in. For instance, ESPN has Tennessee at No. 24, CBS Sports has Tennessee unranked, and Fox Sports has the Vols at No. 23.
PicKell has Tennessee at No. 17 in his early rankings, which is the highest spot that we’ve seen so far.
The On3 YouTube host went through Tennessee’s latest history and how the successful sides of the ball swapped from the 2024 season to the 2025 season. But with the moves that Tennessee has made so far this offseason, both with the staff and through the transfer portal, he believes that there’s room for growth on the defensive side of the ball.
“One, I think it can’t get too much worse, I think, is your first thought, when it comes to that pass defense,” PicKell said, referring to Tennessee’s second-to-last pass defense in the SEC last season. “Second, you hire Jim Knowles, who, say what you want to say about what he did at Penn State, dude has a National Championship ring on his finger from calling the defense for Ohio State, which is, I think, worth something in and of itself. I think he’s one of the best DCs in the sport once he gets his feet under him, meaning his team understands and can operate instinctually within the scheme of his defense, because it’s a tough defense now… But, along with that now, Tennessee’s done some work in the transfer portal to retool that defense with experienced players.”
Many people, including PicKell in his breakdown, talk about seeing a successful jump from Year One to Year Two of Knowles’ defense. But Tennessee has loaded up with four former Penn State players through the portal, all of whom are projected to be impact pieces. Perhaps that helps speed things up for the Vols’ new-look unit.
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The other topic that PicKell hits on is the quarterback situation. The Vols struck out on adding a big-name quarterback through the portal, but Tennessee has a lot of stock in their young and talented, although very inexperienced, quarterback room with George MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon. Tennessee did bring in Ryan Staub from Colorado, but it feels like it’s one of Tennessee’s young players’ spots to lose early on.
“If you’re a Tennessee fan, I keep saying this, trust Josh Heupel,” PicKell said about the Vols’ QB room. “Now, is it a lot harder to say ‘trust Josh Heupel’ when you took Ryan Staub at quarterback? I don’t know if he’s going to be your guy, but I do think, you look at that room, young, outside of Ryan Staub, not untalented. Georgia MacIntyre, four-star prospect, Faizon Brandon, five-star prospect, true freshman. Okay, can we go with one of those guys? If one of those guys can get up to speed quickly and make this offense go how it’s supposed to go, we could be in business if the defense holds up their end of the bargain.”
Ultimately, for those reasons, PicKell has Tennessee up at No. 17 in his way-too-early rankings from late January. Things could always change, but that’s how he sees it for now.
“So, Tennessee at 17 feels like a good blend of, I like the defense’s direction, I trust Heupel, but there’s real questions at quarterback. We’ll see what Tennessee is, man.”
PicKell and Kaiden Smith broke down Tennessee’s early projection for more than seven full minutes during the On3 YouTube show. Check it out below:
